Inclusion of unrestricted Internet access as part of a U.S. foreign policy statement is serving only to harden positions in a dispute with China from which neither side can back down, experts say. "The Chinese are not going to give the U.S. a throwaway concession. The only thing that will change is that we'll raise the issue further. It's going to be an ongoing irritant," says Derek Scissors, a China specialist at the Heritage Foundation.

Hackers gained access to the Web site of Tata Consultancy Services over the weekend, replacing its home page with a notice claiming that the domain was for sale. The hack was apparently done through DNS records, an increasingly common approach used recently against Twitter.

Oracle has released a patch for a vulnerability in its application server software that could lead to "a full compromise of the targeted server." The flaw in the WebLogic Node Manager was revealed by a Russian security firm, Intevydis, which opted not to follow the normal practice of notifying the company before going public.

Some of the most damaging data breaches occur not because of sophisticated hacking schemes, but rather the failure of management to keep track of user accounts with access to the data. "There're lots of cases where people get in because accounts of people who have long left the company had gotten discovered and been used for years," says Jerry Skurla of NitroSecurity.

Security researchers at the 2010 SchmooCon security conference detailed a long list of sensitive personal documents they found on peer-to-peer networks, placed there by people undeterred by recent reports of high-profile data breaches. Documents turned up by Larry Pesce and Mick Douglas ranged from tax returns and a cheerleading tour details to a letter on a would-be informant for U.S. forces in Iraq.

Veracode Research Lab's Tyler Shields says it is "trivial" to write malware applications for the Blackberry smartphone, despite the device's reputation for security. To encourage users to be less trusting, he has created a demonstration app of his own, TXSBBSpy, that can let a remote user track call activity, text messages and real-time GPS data, as well as listen in on the device's microphone.

IBM on Monday is launching a new server microprocessor, the Power7, in an effort to lock in its already strong position in the $14 billion server market. The move comes the same day as Intel launches its latest Itanium chip, Tukwila, and not long before Advance Micro Devices unveils its Magny-Cours processors.
Related:
Power7 anouncement part of shift to bundled systems - New York Times, Feb. 8

The total amount of revolving credit outstanding fell almost 20 percent in November, the largest decline yet, according to Federal Reserve data. But some people, young and old, are opting for the more extreme approach of having no credit cards at all.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, said Sunday that the U.S. government "will never" loses its Aaa debt rating, a prospect raised last week by Moody's Investors Service. "That will never happen to this country," Geither said, citing the global flight to U.S. Treasury securities in times of financial turmoil.

Spending cuts in the Obama administration's proposed budget are having no trouble finding support -- but as in years past, their support is coming up short regarding cuts to programs with economic ties to their home states. "It shows that in Washington, you can be firm on your opinions; it is your principles you can be flexible on," said Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff.

Despite an additional 20,000 jobs lost in January, the nation's unemployment rate managed to decline to 9.7 percent, which economists say points to the recovery finally making itself felt in the job market. "This isn't people dropping out of the labor force," said Gary Burtless of the Brookings Institution. "It's a lot more people saying, 'Yeah, I have a job.' "

The multifaceted changes in information technology policy being promoted by Obama administration -- toward centralization and standardization as well as openness -- have the potential to bring huge savings and efficiencies to the federal government. But an InformationWeek Analytics' survey of 177 federal technology professionals reveals a long list of challenges, both technical and managerial.

The Homeland Security Department and NASA are working on chemical weapon sensors small enough to fit inside cell phones, offering a way to use crowdsourcing to detect attacks. The agencies hope to have as many as 60 phones deployed by the end of the year to test the concept.

Researchers at Rutgers University are developing a system that would use a network of sensors placed on taxicabs to offer real-time data on the number of open street parking spaces. The system could help cities reduce traffic congestion, up to 45 percent of which consists of people looking for parking, according to one study in New York City.

As some industry groups voice concern that the Obama administration's shift toward more insourcing is becoming a quota system, one official says the move is aimed only at functions that are inherently governmental. "We don't want there to be undue pressure one way or the other," said Daniel Gordon, procurement policy administrator at the Office of Management and Budget. "We want decisions to be based on the public interest."

The Homeland Security Department's information technology budget request for fiscal 2011 is $6.4 billion, the highest among civilian agencies.

President Obama's attempt to balance conflicting domestic interests in his trade policy is helping him to avoid political disputes that would impede other areas of his agenda. But even some Democrats say that Obama's expedience may come at the price of American jobs that a firmer trade policy might yield.

After only seven months on the job that saw the first job cuts in the company's history, SAP CEO Léo Apotheker has resigned, to be replaced by two co-chief executives. The company described the move as being by mutual consent, but did not give a reason.

A new value-added tax levied by the European Union will increase European companies' costs of offshoring, which is expected to put pressure on the profit margins of India's information technology outsourcing firms. "This could impact the billing rates by 10-15 percent," said Amneet Singh of Everest Group.